"You mentioned that 'Hope' was made in the spirit of the era '93-'94 which
you feel was a really productive time for hip hop. Can you explain what you
think made this a special time for hip hop ?"

Maybe it was just a special time for ME, but it just seems like hiphop was at its pinnacle of poetecism, creativity and integrity. Soon after that, there was an influx of half assed rappers and producers. Not only that, but the GOOD rappers and producers seemed to be adhering to the lowering of the bar. Producers became afraid of using samples, and god knows what happened to the rappers. Admittedly, this helped kick off the independent scene, but I still wish we could have seen where hiphop might have went if another path was traveled after 1993. Maybe that's what HOPE is.

"Can you choose say 5 artists and albums which are particular favourites of yours from the period '93-'94 and explain what it is about them that makes them great in your opinion?"

Nas was the peek of hiphop at that point. His voice, flow, subject matter and hype seemed to be the culmination of everything that came before him. He owes a lot to the producers who surrounded him at the time.

Jeru was killing the Devil. His awkward, off-rhyme flow took me a second to get used to, but he mixed intelligence with grittiness pretty well. Great stories and interesting subject matter. He had conviction, which I liked. As we have seen, he wasn't able to do much without Primo...but the combination of him and Primo was deadly.

It was also around this time that Posduous from De La Soul was bringing the heat. His poeticism remains unmatched in the realm he was working in. The combination of De La with Prince Paul was crucial. I wish they would have stayed together.

Genius from Wu Tang was my favorite for a long time. His choice and combination of words is great. He seemed to have a great understanding of everything he spoke about, which allowed him to approach subject matter from interesting angles.

For my 5th, I'll have to pick KRS. He was still killing it during this time period, and schooling heads left and right with delivery, content, concepts and conviction.

Again, I may just be romanticizing the artists who appealed to me at a favorable age, but I do think there was something more to the hiphop of yesteryear and I've been trying to hold onto it ever since.

"Did you have any particular album or albums from the period '93-'94 in mind when you were working on 'Hope'?"

No, not really. I just let myself open up to all the shit I grew up with and I do believe a lot of it translates. We didn't follow the formula of any album in particular, but Joe and I first went into this with the mentality that every song would be an A-side. No filler.

"Now that the album's ready to roll what do you reckon are the defining influences on 'Hope'?"

Just cos you got interviewed by a UK magazine, it doesn't take away the fact you're a twat who generalizes UK hip hop from hearing one 'proper' British emcee, The Streets and a bunch of wack demos. Shit, imagine the only Americans I'd heard were Nelly, Tenacious D (about as hip hop as the streets) and a bunch of unsigned nobodies. Seeing my point?

Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:27 am

Jesus Frank

Joined: 12 Jul 2002
Posts: 2319
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

filthy, let go of Sage's foot. As already been established, you are not helping your cause.

Sat Sep 06, 2003 10:32 am

sidik

Joined: 29 Aug 2003
Posts: 170
Location: at work

Big Koast wrote: Shit, imagine the only Americans I'd heard were Nelly, Tenacious D (about as hip hop as the streets) and a bunch of unsigned nobodies. Seeing my point?

Very good point. Give us all a change of perspective. But if there are good hip hop artists in the UK... why don't you want to share with us and post them? Only people I've heard of throughout this whole "UK emcees suck" thing were the Streets... and according to almost everyone they're terrible. So please, share with us. I am always down to listen to new shit... and I am sure a lot of others here are too. So prove your point; put up some of the dope UK emcees so we can all enjoy them.

you don't seem to understand that this is how a majority of the people all over the world look at hip hop. Yes, even americans. You can't be mad at people for that, because everyone can't be on top of everything just because you happen to like it. There are probably some good stuff to be found in UK hip hop, I'm sure of it, although I haven't heard a lot of it myself. I can only call it how I see it/not see it. Does that mean I diss it? no. And I think the same might go for Sage. Either way, like I said before, you need to cut this out because it does not help your cause at all. You should have known by now.

And djdee, I'm with you on the Streets not being terrible. I have only heard the singles, but that drunk character song was very funny. And he is a charismatic dude too.

Sat Sep 06, 2003 1:19 pm

FilthyRichGuest

the streets is shit, the guy doesn't even rhyme

Sat Sep 06, 2003 4:10 pm

Crispy

Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Posts: 45
Location: Barrow-in-Furness, England

posted twice, see below --------VVVVVVVV

Last edited by Crispy on Sun Sep 07, 2003 6:42 am; edited 1 time in total

Sun Sep 07, 2003 6:36 am

Crispy

Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Posts: 45
Location: Barrow-in-Furness, England

kese wrote: the uk didn't have hiphop in 93

I'm sure we did.........somewhere! HA!

But that golden age era of hip-hop inspired some people over here to bring out their own shit.

Check out a guy from my neck of the woods called Aim. Not biased opinion here, but it's the shit! Tends to use US mc's and has worked with Souls Of Mischief and Diamond D. His personal heros.

OK, nice to see that not everyone here is as bigoted as I thought and is actually open to listening to new/different shit. I'm not gonna list track names cos I'd be here all day, but some artists I'd advise you to check from the UK are...

That's a nice list of UK artists. I think the main reason US hear little about UK artists is because the majority of decent ones are underground, no matter what the UK media may call UK Hip Hop (i.e. So Solid Crew, DIzzee Rascal etc) the REAL UK Hip Hop artists are underground.

But I think that it's a whole lot easier for people from the UK to find out about US underground artists than the other way round. So it's also hard for any UK artists to make it in the US, like US underground acts have done here. It's the same for any UK music artist, not just artists in Hip Hop.

Yeah and AIM is a nice producer as well, reminds me a little of Rjd2.

But yeah, slightly off topic, but that's just my two cents.

Mon Sep 08, 2003 6:12 am

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